🎃Blog

THIS N’ THAT FROM OUR NORTH CAROLINA FARM

10/7/2024

  • Sadly, I think it’s safe to say that the hummingbirds have left for the winter. I will take down, wash, and store my feeders until next year.

  • It appears that some drones are already being kicked out of the beehives for the winter. Hard to watch, but nature has its ways.

  • Our Barred Plymouth Rock hens are beginning to molt—feathers everywhere! I have them on a special feather-fixer feed this year so it will be interesting to see if they recover more quickly than in previous years. Last fall they stopped laying completely for two months!

  • Our horse hay supplier said that army worms got to what was supposed to be the third cut of hay for the year. He is from a long line of North Carolina farmers and said the worms come around about once every five years.

  • I spent part of the morning picking army worms off of my strawberry plants. As an organic gardener, I keep all of my edible plants under net cages to help with pest control—but nature will find a way.

  • The tomato plants are still going strong with nary an army worm in sight!

  • The perennial mums are in bloom in the raised garden beds!

  • The weather is turning cooler so it’s time to put away all the outdoor animal misters for the winter. The horses will miss them—they love standing in the cool mist until they’re literally dripping with water!

  • The ground is still saturated from Hurricane Helene going through. No standing water anymore but the pond level remains very high.

  • We have been getting the hot water bottles out in the evenings again. We fill them with water from an electric teakettle and they last for hours—so cozy and they feel so good on tired muscles!

  • We had a mockingbird at our bird feeders yesterday. Despite there being so many in the area, we don’t usually see any in our yard because we have so many (territorial!) blue birds that have made their homes in the structures and nesting boxes around our farm.

  • We will be cleaning the gutters today. Although we don’t have many deciduous trees around the farm, the tall pine trees still make quite a mess and their long needles frequently clog the downspouts.

  • I will release our last batch of fly predators for the year later today.

  • Select books I’m currently reading (I always have several books going at once):

    • The Pumpkin Spice Cafe

    • The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (I re-read this every October)

    • Anne of Green Gables (I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve re-read this)

  • Candlecore Candles currently being burned in my house (but not all lit at the same time!): Hot Apple Pie, Quiet Night, Blueberry Pumpkin Patch, Black Coral & Moss, Neroli & White Jasmine, Vanilla Bean Christmas, All The Fall Feels

    • I initially had my doubts about Blueberry Pumpkin Patch but it smells wonderful!

    • Vanilla Bean Christmas was absolutely delightful but it met an early demise when it got knocked off the bedside table while changing the bedding (yes, it was lit with a full wax melt pool at the time—quite the mess)!

    • All The Fall Feels takes me back to craft stores in the fall—sitting waiting in Joann Fabrics while my mother had fabric cut for her various fall craft show projects.

  • Candlecore Soaps currently being used in my house: Apple Ginger Spritz/goat milk soap, Arctic Ivy/three butter soap, Brown Sugar Fig Jam/goat milk soap

    🤍Jenny